30 Teams, 30 Questions: Pt. 3

Continuing to ask all these questions. I’m feeling like the anti-Alex Trebek here.

With today’s landing in the American League West. Not much was made of this division last preseason except that people were practically giving it to the Seattle Mariners since they had acquired Cliff Lee. Then the offense went south.

That proved to be a hole the Texas Rangers needed (along with an untimely injury to Kendry Morales among other things as well) to creep from anonymity to division champs to World Series participant. Don’t think the Rangers will sneak up on anyone this season. What does 2011 have in store for these four teams?

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Will the offense be there?

The Angels weren’t the same after Kendry Morales suffered the most freakish of season ending injuries. The departed Juan Rivera suffered a downturn last season as the Angels went south and finished third in the division. Bobby Abreu suffered through one of worst offensive seasons.

Enter, sort of, Vernon Wells. While the acquisition of Wells have some shaking their heads (mostly due to his salary), he can pick up the slack. In the deal to get Wells, the Angels sent Mike Napoli and Rivera. That’s 41 HR and 120 RBI gone. Wells and the return of Morales should more than offset those departures. Wells alone had 31 HR and 88 RBI in 2010.

Oakland: Will the A’s be offensively challenged?

Before I delve into this, I have another question. Who led the A’s in HR last season? That would be Kevin Kouzmanoff…with 16. He also led them with 71 RBI. But the nice thing to see is taht the A’s don’t place a huge emphasis in the power category of homers. The fact they finished 28th in HR in 2010 is proof: however, they have made an effort in that area.

Jack Cust, primary DH, is gone, but the A’s now have Hideki Matsui. He should be able to at least duplicate Cust’s line of 13 HR and 52 RBI. The homer number may not be much higher, but I can see that RBI number rising. Oakland also has former Nats left fielder Josh Willingham. A healthy Conor Jackson could also help on that front. Adding David DeJesus could add to the run total. Toss in Coco Crisp and the A’s will have the ability to score a bit more in 2011. Realistically, there’s not an easy out in the lineup.

The home run will never be item #1 on the team’s menu. They only had 4 players with 10+ last season. That could grow to 6.

Seattle: Can Seattle find a way to score?

I know it seems like I’m on a kick here with the offense. Well, I am. No one team has owned the honor of having a more miserable offense over the last couple of seasons that the Mariners. And they even have future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki on the roster. But one guy doesn’t make a whole team.

I can honestly state here that unlike the A’s, I’m not a believer in the M’s offense. Of course, Chone Figgins could bounce back. Justin Smoak could go on a tear. Ichiro is Ichiro. And like Oakland, the Mariners are not in any way built around the long ball. Unlike the A’s, you wonder about the production. The M’s made no moves to attempt to correct this. They did add the glove of Brendan Ryan.

For a team that finished last in virtually every offensive category last season (yes, even in batting average), I see no light coming up over the horizon.

Texas: How will the departures of Vladimir Guererro and Cliff Lee affect this team?

Sit down for this one. I don’t think Lee’s departure will have any effect. In his 15 games as a Ranger, Lee was 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA. His WHIP was still an unbelievable 1.058. That’s because Lee simply doesn’t walk anyone. But he did allow twice as many home runs (11 to 5) as a Ranger as compared to his days in Seattle. I realize it has to do somewhat with the ballpark. But Lee was there only half a season.

He made his mark as a Ranger more in the postseason as Texas made its way through the American League playoffs going 3-0 with a miniscule 0.75 ERA. If the Rangers feel Lee’s absence, it might be there.

The departure of Vlad will impact the Rangers. You do lose a clubhouse leader (not that Lee isn’t). More importantly, you lose a player that rediscovered his confidence. He did have a far greater impact than Lee. Even though Vlad struggled a bit in the second half, he still posted splits of .300/.345/.496. Think about that .345 OBP for a minute. This guy swings at everything…still. The Rangers didn’t want to re-sign him and the Orioles showed him a cool $8 Million with $3 million deferred.

Sure he was there only one season, but it was the full season.

The American League is in the books. Next, the National League.

Speaking of the NL, take this opportunity to vote for your favorite all divisional team here.